Nightweaver, Year Two
by Ubiytsa
Summary: The thief turned vigilante Nightweaver returns from the grave to hunt down his enemy, Black Mask. Enlisting the help of anybody that will listen, Simon Weaver builds the ultimate living arsenal to take down his long time enemy. Will he succeed in taking him down in attempt two? Or will he fall victim to more of Roman's tricks? Only time will tell.
1. Chapter 1 Fresh Beginnings

**A/N - This is, as the title implies, the sequel to Nightweaver Year One. As a foreword, it isn't **_**exactly **_**after Year One; this is simply Nightweaver's second year as a vigilante. What happened between Year One and Year Two will be covered throughout this, I promise. While this **_**is **_**a Titans fanfic, they will not personally make a major appearance for a few chapters. Never fear, they'll get here. Without further hesitation, get ta' steppin'.**

Nightweaver sat in his chair, high in a hotel in Gotham, overlooking the heart of the city. The New Year's Ball was raised high above the crowds, shimmering from the massive amount of lights surrounding it. The crowd below him began counting down; in ten seconds, the year would be over, marking his second actually on the Earth, fighting as a vigilante. He'd spent time in a number of places; the Phantom Zone for several months, Hell itself for almost a year, and even longer as a ghost. He was brought back to life by Raven after his archnemesis, the Black Mask, had been spotted again. He escaped, but barely, and Nightweaver was coming to exact his revenge.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight. As the seconds passed by, he thought about how much his life had changed in the past two years. He'd left a life of crime, become a Teen Titan, met some girls. He'd become a multimillionaire. He'd watched Black Mask shoot the two women he cared about in his life in the face, causing him to give up on living and shoot himself.

_I literally fought my way back out of Hell. I'd say that's pretty damn good. Roman Sionis, be ready._

Seven.

Six.

Five.

_So much has changed since then. I'm a different person. I'm more than ready to kill him again._

Four.

Three.

Two. He started to actually shift attention to the celebration in the final second, looking just in time to watch the ball drop.

_Now everything has changed. New beginning._ His communicator pinged, and he checked the message. Robin had put out an alert.

_We need all active Titans in Jump. The Riddler has been spotted setting up for what looks like a massive attack on the Tower._ A second came in, clearly a personal message instead of a group one. _Weaver, if you think you're ready, Batman could lend you the Batwing. He's offered to let you take it there. Autopilot will bring it back to him, so don't worry about the return._ He cracked his neck and unzipped his duffel bag, revealing the armor set that Cyborg had made for him so long ago. He was suited up within minutes, a feeling of familiarity rising up and enveloping him as he clicked each armor piece into place on the previous one. He called Batman on the communicator; Alfred answered.

"Batman told me to be expecting a call from you. I take it that you have need of the Batwing?"

"Just open the cave. I'll be there." He hung up, opened the hotel window, and jumped out. He was about two hundred feet off the ground when he shot a grappling hook out from his wrist launcher, latching onto a nearby building and swinging; his feet nearly skidded the ground as it reached the lowest part of the arc, and he launched himself as he began to reach his maximum momentum. He moved from building to building until he reached Wayne Manor, glad to see that the entrance to the Batcave was wide open. He swung inside, narrowly missing hitting his head on the top, landing in a roll to distribute his momentum correctly. Alfred was standing in front of him, giving a light applause.

"Master Wayne has quite a knack for theatrics, but I must say, that was well done." Batman approached him, and Nightweaver rose to his full height, only a few inches shorter than the Dark Knight now.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

"Not at all."

"It takes time, Simon."

"I've taken enough time. I just need to distract myself from my own thoughts."

"You forget that I've been through the same thing. I know what you're going through, dealing with your friends' deaths. Just be glad you were able to bring them back."

"I am. I just need to get back into my normal routine and I'll be fine."

"Be careful. In your current state, you're very exploitable."

"I will. Thanks for the ride." He walked to the Batwing, popped the windscreen, got inside and took off.

Almost an hour later, thanks to the Batwing being _much _faster than any normal jet, Nightweaver brought the plane down for a landing. His communicator buzzed, and he got tired of it and patched it into the HUD of his armor. Batman popped up in front of his right eye.

"Just eject. The autopilot will bring it back to me." He didn't bother responding, he just slapped the button and launched the seat out of the cockpit. He jumped out and grappled onto a nearby building. As he descended, Raven appeared out of a portal and grabbed him out of the air, lowering him in front of her.

"Nice to see you too, Raven."

"I didn't think you would come."

"Neither did Batman. That doesn't matter."

"The others are in the Tower."

"Take me there, then." The both vanished in a black puff of energy, rising up out of twin portals in the main room of Titans Tower. The rest of the Titans, including Catgirl, were all surrounding the computer, staring up at the screen. Nobody seemed to notice them.

"Now, if I'm correct, the Riddler has made a mistake in assuming we would think he's made a mistake; instead of going to the marina, we need to check downtown. He's a genius. Geniuses don't make mistakes that painfully obvious," Robin explained. Nightweaver had gotten behind the group and spoke up.

"If you think he thinks you think he's made a mistake, what if he's another step ahead of you? He knows that you're almost as good at this as Batman." They turned, most of them looking surprised to see him. He glanced at Kitrina, who was just looking around the room, as if trying to keep herself from looking at him. Robin extended a gloved hand, and he shook it.

"We didn't think you would want to come. It's nice to have you back, at least for now."

"Thanks. I just felt like I needed to." Beast Boy looked up to him, his previous disposition towards him seemingly gone.

"What's it been like in Gotham? Have you been working with Batman?"

"I haven't done much of anything. I've just been trying to figure things out."

"Batman's not the most fun person to work with," Robin noted. "There's a _lot _more rules than you'd expect. He treats you more like a liability than help."

"Back to Riddler," Nightweaver said, bringing the conversation back away from him. "We should probably check both spots, just in case. What kind of attack are we looking at?"

"Do you really want to know?" Raven asked in her usual monotone.

"He's been leaving question mark shaped packs of C4 on the Tower," Cyborg explained. "Found them all cause they've got a sucky remote detonator, easy to detect with a simple scan." He retrieved one of such detonators from the table and showed it to him, then tossed it back down.

"And I take it there appears to be stockpiles in both sections?"

"Exactly," Robin interjected.

"I'll take downtown, you guys get the marina."

"Don't be stupid. We'll go as a group." Catgirl finally spoke up.

"The girls can head to the marina, the guys can go downtown." She walked away, leaving before anybody could argue against her idea.

"What's with her?" Cyborg asked, obviously irritated by how she'd been acting.

"What was she like before I got here?" Weaver asked.

"A little less quiet, but not by much."

"She's just mad at me. It'll pass."

"It's not like it was your fault, Simon," Robin said, trying to make him feel better.

"Nightweaver. Simon's dead and gone. And I know. There was nothing I could do to stop it. She's just mad that I chose her to die. Let's not talk about this and just get going."

"Alright. Titans, go!"

Nightweaver dropped from the top of a department store in a crouch, surrounding himself with Riddler's thugs.

_Or at least who I'm hoping are Riddler's thugs._

"Get the hell outta here, suit! This don't concern you!"

"_Everything_ concerns me." He jumped up and kicked the thug in front of him, pushing off of his chest with his second foot and doing a full backflip. As he landed, he brought his elbow down on the neck of the thug behind him, knocking him out as he spun into a backfist, knocking the third out. There was only one left, and he grabbed his weapon with a grappling hook before he could attack him; he spun it around and around, wrapping him in it, then held a taser to the cord.

"This taser is more than enough to put you in unimaginable pain. The cord that hook is attached to _does _conduct electricity. You don't tell me who you're working for, I think you can figure out what I do next."

"Enigma! He called himself Enigma!"

"For being such a genius, Riddler sure is a moron. Edward E. Nigma. Robin, I think I've got the shipment." He opened the truck they had just finished loading boxes into; there was a TV inside, and it flickered to life. The Riddler appeared on screen.

"Nice to see you, Nightweaver. You seem to think you've unfoiled my plot, but I promise, this is just the beginning! You may want to go back to your precious tower now. Cyborg didn't seem to account for the fact that I'm smarter than all of you combined!" Weaver clicked a button on his wrist; Edward hit the button on his cane, and nothing happened.

"You didn't seem to account for the fact that I've got some new toys. Signal jammer. Already figured out the frequency that you were using. Won't work anymore unless I turn this off."

"You see, but I did. This is all just a ruse for my friend."

"And you're telling me this why?"

"Because I know how much everybody loves the Scarecrow!"

"Robin, you hear that?" The Boy Wonder dropped down behind him.

"Fear gas is coming out of a manhole right behind you. Let's go. Riddler's not even in the city. The bombs don't work."

"Nice talking to you, asshole." He kicked the TV screen in and walked away; Robin opened up the sewer entrance and dropped inside, Nightweaver following closely behind him.

"What's the plan?"

"Gas masks on. We see Scarecrow, we drop him as quickly as possible," Robin ordered. "He's capable of essentially taking us down in one hit."

"TOO LATE!" he screamed from behind them, stabbing them both with his FEAR injectors. He ran off, disappearing into the darkness.

"Hey kid! Turn around!" Weaver spun around in a kick; Black Mask caught it and punched him in the face, then flipped him over, landing him face first in sewage.

"Oh god, that's fucking disgusting!" He rushed forward and tackled him, smashing his back against the concrete wall.

"Robin! Fight me like a man!" Slade yelled. The hero agreed, pushing his attacker away from him, back into the sewage, and jumped on top of him, marauding his face with punches. Nightweaver grabbed one of Black Mask's flailing fists, cracking his wrist by yanking his hand to the side and pushing him off of him. Robin fell into the sewage himself and rolled away from Slade; Robin and Nightweaver stood several feet apart from each other, hallucinating that they were each other's worst enemies.

"You're going down, Sionis," Weaver spouted.

"I'm going to kill you _and _your friends," Robin heard Slade say.

"You aren't winning this time, Slade," Robin retorted.

"How many times to I have to kill your girlfriend for you to just give up?" Nightweaver hallucinated Black Mask saying. They rushed towards each other; both of them landed punches square in the jaw, and they knocked each other out, thankfully landing mostly on the concrete sidewalks instead of in the sewer water.

Robin came to; Nightweaver had been knocked out as well, and he shook him back into consciousness.

"Get up. Slade's down here somewhere."

"Ugh.. Where the hell were you? Black Mask showed up and knocked me out. You just disappeared."

"Fear."

"What?"

"FEAR. Scarecrow must have gotten us. Slade attacked me, and you were gone too, but obviously we were in the same area. We must have been fighting each other."

"We're telling everybody else that I knocked you out."

"We knocked each other out. Let's just say that we fought Scarecrow and he got away."

"Agreed."


	2. Chapter 2 The Plan

"Look, Robin, I know that you could use me here, but I feel like I need to find Black Mask and finish this."

"I understand entirely. Where will you go?"

"I need to find Slade. He's been searching for Sionis since I died."

"Be careful with him."

"We've never had a problem before. Doubt we will now. Nightweaver out." He blinked the communicator feed away from his HUD and looked around. He'd already left Jump; he knew Robin would agree. He was standing outside of one of Deathstroke's hideouts, a warehouse in central Chicago. Nightweaver picked the lock and entered quietly. He hadn't gotten ten steps in before a broadsword was at his throat.

"Weaver."

"Slade. Good to see you too."

"Heard you were back in the game. Figured you'd come here. Hunting Sionis?"

"To the grave. Gotta verify this time." He pulled his sword away and slid it into the sheath on his back. Weaver turned and extended a hand, and the mentor and apprentice reunited as they shook hands.

"We've lost track of Sionis for the moment. Hope you don't mind." Slade opened a crate of MRE's and tore one open and began stuffing food into his mouth.

"Not at all. I never expected this to be easy. One step at a time."

"Deadshot's searching Asia. Falcone's cast a blanket over Europe. Catwoman has her eyes all over Gotham."

"And you?"

"I've got eyes on _everything_." A screen previously unseen flickered to life, presenting a map of the world. There were large portions of it covered in red, other, smaller areas in bright orange.

"Orange marks places he's likely in. Red are areas we know he's had activity or contact in. I've determined he's in Asia right now."

"Good. I'll get going." He went to leave, but Deathstroke stopped him with his forearm.

"You aren't ready yet, Weaver. Do some research from the outside first."

"Slade, I don't need this shit right now. I just want Roman Sionis dead."

"And how did your method last time work out? You managed to kill off two people, and neither of them were Black Mask." Weaver backhanded Deathstroke and watched as the rage grew on his face.

"Don't be a little shit. I'm trying to help you."

"Fuck you." Slade grabbed his arm and twisted it, forcing him to the ground in one quick movement.

"Squirm and I break it. We're gonna stay here until you calm down." Nightweaver shot the tasers out of his gauntlets, striking Slade in the jaw. His body went limp momentarily, giving him the edge he needed to escape. He put Deathstroke in the same position, standing over him.

"I'm going to kill him, with or without your help." Slade rolled over, forcing Weaver back onto his back and driving his knee into his throat.

"Calm. Down." Weaver breathed in and out, then spoke.

"Fine. What do you suggest we do?" Slade got off of him and extended a hand, lifting him back to his feet.

"We hit his contacts in America. Drug dealers, gun runners, casino owners, other mob bosses. We take out his influence bit by bit. He'll either run out of power and we have an even easier job killing him, or he gets pissed off enough to come after us himself, in which case we're on defense, and de-"

"Defense always gets the advantage. Got it."

"You do learn," he said smugly. "We should start in Gotham." He touched the screen and it zoomed in on Gotham's streets. "Start high. Make the job short. He wants us to think that he only controls the lower levels, that he draws money from them, but that's all a lie. Black Mask is rooted in deep. He controls _everything_, and makes it look like it's an independent organization."

"So the target is...?"

"Raul Manzanita, head of the Gothamite Drug Cartel, or GDC. Controls the flow of high quality narcotics to the richest and most corrupt."

"How do you know that?"

"A lot of my friends qualify as rich and corrupt."

"Makes sense."

"So, we take him out, take a few of his lieutenants down, and remove plenty of their product. That'll piss him off enough for now."

"Then what? We need to plan out our entire operation, or at least get an outline."

"Taking his businesses down a peg here'll destabilize the ones he has in Europe most. Asia isn't quite as affected because it operates on a different level."

"Got it. I'll head out to Gotham now. I'll meet you there." He left before Slade could say anything, leaving Deathstroke alone in the darkness of the warehouse. As he stepped outside, he felt a hard impact on the top of his head, then succumbed to the sweet callings of sleep.

Nightweaver woke up armorless and chained upside down. The room was dark, and he could only faintly make out the caped figure in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" he sputtered out, halfway choking on the words. The figure's head bobbed up and down in what seemed to be a silent laugh. "Answer me, you scumbag!" The figure laughed aloud now, not even trying to hold it back.

"You always were the kind to act like he was in control in this kind of situation." He turned, and Red X faced Nightweaver for the first time in two years.

"Moscow."

"Just call me X now. Or Red X, I don't really care."

"Fuck you."

"My my, somebody's angry."

"I wonder why," he spat through gritted teeth.

"I won't hold you up any longer than I have to, no pun intended. I've got a proposition."

"Not interested."

"It'll help you against that pesky Black Mask character," he said, leading him on.

"Interested."

"He's got me by the balls, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. He's made me his bitch for the last few months. I can start stealing shipments of supplies from him bit by bit to help you. Just one condition."

"Name it."

"I want Kitrina back."

"Take her. She hates me now."

"What?"

"She hates me. Been like that for a while."

"Curious. She told me the other day that you two were fine."

"You've had contact with her?"

"Kitty can't keep away for too long."

"She won't even talk to me. I don't know what game she's playing. Let me down." Red X untied the chain from around his legs, and Weaver dropped to the ground. "Armor?"

"Next to you." He looked and saw that it was, in fact, directly beside him, and he quickly put it on. He slipped the helmet on and felt comfortable in his own skin once again.

"Thanks. Now, for your proposal..." He punched Red X in the side of the head, knocking him out in one strike. He removed X's belt and placed it on the ground, then tied him up with the same chain that had been used on him. X woke quickly, to his credit, and tried to free himself, but couldn't.

"Really, Simon?"

"Simon's dead. It's just Nightweaver."

"Stop with all of your melodramatic, 'boo-hoo-poor-me' act already. What do you want?"

"I get you with Kitrina and I get rid of Sionis, you stop stealing."

"What else do I do, then?"

"Be a good guy. Talk to some people. I don't know, I don't care, but its time for you to grow up."

"Not an option." Weaver tore off X's mask, revealing his old partner's face, albeit more aged.

"You still don't have a name for me, Weaver."

"No, but the Internet does." He made sure his eyepiece caught a clear glimpse of X's face, then turned away. "Search, find identity."

"You son of a bitch!"

"Jordan Terrel."

"You're dead, kid."

"I'm older than you." He threw X's mask back to him and untied him. Jordan got his gear back on and stood face-to-face with his former partner.

"You just made a big mistake." Weaver turned to the side and began pacing.

"You seem to be making the mistake here. We're two side of the same coin, you see; two thieves, one way we look at it or another. The difference is, I moved on from that. You're stuck in the same, unstable lifestyle you've always been. You're trying to grasp at that stability in Kitrina, but what happens when she gets taken away from you again? Where have you been for the last two years? Sulking? Depressed? Hiding your sorrow in whatever your vice is now?" Red X's head dipped.

"Fuck. You."

"That's all you've got to say?" X grabbed him by the chestpiece, lifting him up.

"You sacrificed your roots. You forfeited all those years of hard work, all those contacts, turned your back on _all of them_. Who's the real villain here, Simon? The guy who sticks to his guns, defends his people, tries to help them prosper, or the one who walks away from it all and joins the other side?"

"Don't act like you're supporting anybody but yourself. You only steal because you can't be bothered to help society."

"Just leave. Forget I ever said anything." Weaver went to leave, but stopped just before going through the door.

"I'll tell her where you are. You've got your chance with her. Otherwise, I don't want anything to do with this." He strolled down the hallway and exited the building, emerging on the dark streets of Chicago. It was nearly midnight, and he needed to get going to Gotham. He worked his way towards the airport, already planning on stealing a plane.

An hour and a half later, Nightweaver was flying through the sky above Chicago, well on his way to the massive city that served as Batman's hunting ground.


	3. Chapter 3 The Hunt Begins

Nightweaver's plane touched down in a field not far from the outskirts of Gotham. Whoever found it would either be delighted they had a free plane or angry that something was in their field; it didn't rightly matter. It rolled to a stop and he popped the cockpit, jumping out nimbly. As he stowed the flight gear back into the plane, he heard something behind him; he turned to see none other than Batman standing behind him.

"Nice to see you back in Gotham, Simon."

"Not Simon anymore."

"Right. Sorry. I think we should talk before you set out on anything."

"Look, Bruce, I know you're gonna try to tell me this isn't right, but this is my _last_. I may quit after we take him down."

"Not Bruce anymore. And you're right, I'm going to tell you that this isn't right. I know he's going to just escape from any jail, get out of any stipulation, fight back despite what you might do. He's a _psychopath_. That's what they do. I've dealt with him too, and he's hit me personally just as he has you."

"You keep your dedication to justice. I still believe in capital punishment." He went to walk away, but Batman stopped him.

"I'm not going to let you just take the law into your own hands like this. I've already contacted Deathstroke. He's just as happy for my alternative."

"And that is?"

"A compromise. We both know public prisons won't work. I don't want you to kill him. You want him out of the picture permanently. I could set up a prison cell in the Batcave. I personally guarantee that he'll never be able to escape it. He'd be kept alive, not starved, but nothing that would let him work his way out."

"I trust you'll keep him there for good. You've got a deal."

"No accidents. Keep your head straight."

"I will."

"The Batmobile's on it's way. Give it a minute and I'll give you a ride."

"Sorry, not interested. Got a meeting."

"At least let me drive you into town." The car pulled up, stopping right behind the Dark Knight, who opened the door and stepped in.

"I never can resist this thing."

The Batmobile pulled up into an alley deep in downtown Gotham.

"You're sure this is the place?"

"Close enough to it. Thanks for the ride, Bats." He stepped out and fired his grappling hooks up, latching onto a building and lifting himself up. The Batmobile pulled out of the alley and vanished down the street, leaving him alone again.

_Apartment building on fifth. Twelfth floor window, left side._ He jumped off of the roof and swung himself around the building until he saw the window he was searching for; it was wide open, as promised. He swung into it, rolling as he hit the floor and rising to one knee. He saw the black jeans and biker jacket and knew he was in the right place.

"Nightweaver." He stood and came face to face with the Red Hood. "Glad you came."

"Glad you're here."

"Of course I am. Ready to meet the others?"

"I guess I am." Red Hood pushed open the door out of the bedroom and into the main room of the apartment.

_Half of Batman's most wanted are here._ In front of him sat Joker, The Penguin, Two Face, and the Riddler.

"Edward, nice to see you again. Sorry for the bluntness of our last encounter."

"Apology accepted," Nigma said with a sense of disdain.

"Why've we got a cape here? We shouldn't be teamin' with capes!" Penguin shouted angrily. Red Hood stepped in front of Weaver instinctively and spoke slowly.

"You all hate Black Mask for taking your business. He hates Black Mask for his own reasons. We've been in contact for a few weeks now and I'm confident we're on level ground. If you don't betray him, he won't betray you."

"Look, we don't even need to directly cooperate. Joker, I need you and your guys to take out as many of Sionis' men as you possibly can. Penguin, you can help by taking his product. All of it. Drugs, guns, anything. Harvey, hit him in whatever way you wish."

"And for the genius?" Riddler interjected.

"I've got a special job for you. I need you to hack into their communications and give them stupid orders. Hack into their equipment and make it malfunction. Everything. They have it hooked up to a socket, I want it to blow a fuse."

"Child's play. Tell me if you need anything I learned after the fifth grade."

"And me?" Red Hood asked.

"You're with me." He opened a window and climbed out of it, shooting his grappling hooks as he did so. He was pleased to see his new ally following him, a grappling hook hitting the building just above where he'd put his. They both landed in about the same spot, rolling as they hit an overlook just above an alleyway.

"What's the plan?" Red Hood asked, stepping in front of him and looking into the alley. Weaver felt a familiar claw on his neck. He turned, having fully expected Catwoman's arrival.

"_She _was the plan. I knew you couldn't resist following the Bat."

"You should've told me you were in town, sweetie."

"Didn't think I'd need to."

"You didn't call, you didn't send flowers..."

"You don't have a phone."

"No, but I've got a lonely vase at home just _dying _for me to put something inside of it."

"Tell you what, I'll get you a nice bouquet next time I get the chance."

"How sweet of you. I'll be sure to remember that. I don't appreciate it when people break promises."

"Good for you two with all your flirty bullshit, but what do we need her for?" Red Hood asked impatiently.

"She's got all the intel on them here. That, and she's a capable fighter."

"And you don't think she's the least bit angry at you for stealing her sidekick and getting her killed?" Catwoman's face soured.

"Kids do stupid things. It isn't his fault that he made a few enemies. Or one _really _dangerous one."

"Calm down, both of you. I trust the Cat, and I trust you, so you need to trust each other, or we're all gonna have problems, and that doesn't help me- sorry, help _us_, take down Black Mask."

"He's right," Catwoman pointed out.

"Fine. What do you need from me right now? I've got other things to take care of," Red Hood responded, not happy with the lack of caution.

"I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. She gives us targets, some of my other guys handle the planning, and we all go in and take it out."

"Sounds like a plan." With a swipe at his utility belt and a shot into the air, Red Hood was gone, leaving Catwoman and Nightweaver alone in the alley. She leaned up against a wall and got comfortable.

"So, how's Kitrina been?" she asked, showing some worry on her face. It was clear to him that she'd been missing her sidekick and hoped she was alright.

"I couldn't honestly tell you," he admitted, feeling a pang of guilt as the words came out of his mouth. "She isn't exactly happy with me, as you may imagine."

"I'm not exactly up to date on you two's latest argument. I know Black Mask killed you, but past that, I don't know."

"You might be better off not knowing."

"Please? I might be able to make it worth your while."

"Or you could kill me because you're pissed."

"Your choice, honey."

"I'll pass, for now. Some other time. You might want to talk to her, though. She doesn't seem to be holding up very well."

"And you shouldn't?"

"I tend to just make things worse with her."

"I'll get around to it. And you're alright?" He looked down and shook his head.

"I've got no goddamn idea anymore. Just trying to hold everything together, focus on taking out Sionis." She got up and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reach past the layers.

"You ever need to talk, don't h-"

"I know. I won't. I've got to go." He gently brushed her hand off of him and launched his grappling hooks away. He fled to a nearby rooftop and sat down, his head in his hands.

_What the hell is wrong with me lately? I've been coasting along, and just barely. I need to take care of my own problems before I drag other people in with me. I am going to kill Black Mask once and for all, that's for sure. I can't do it right now, though. My mental instability is my weakness right now. What can I do to fix it, though? _He struggled as he tried to clear his conscience.

_Raven. I need to talk to Raven._


	4. Chapter 4 Psych

Nightweaver paced back and forth in his suite; he felt the need to use the money he had earned off of the stock market, as opposed to letting it sit in a bank. The hotel he was staying in wasn't as close to the heart of Gotham as his last hotel. This one sat closer out to the water, giving a fantastic view that he wasn't at all interested in. He'd closed the blinds, letting the sun filter through them, but leaving the suite in relative darkness. He leaned down, opened the mini fridge, saw nothing, closed it, and began pacing again.

_Something Catwoman said must have triggered something. I feel all kinds of out of whack._ He tried to sit down and relax, but quickly grew restless and stood back up and resumed pacing. The mental pressure began to build and build until he felt he was about to explode; just as he reached his breaking point, he saw a black swirl of energy erupt in the center of his room, and Raven stepped out of it.

"Thank god you're here. Fix me."

"What?"

"Fix me. I am _broken_. Fix me."

"How exactly are you broken?"

"I don't know!"

"Look, I'm not just an instant psychiatrist. I could help you if you were _actually _insane, but I think you're just under a lot of stress."

"What do you suggest, then? I go and see some professional moron with a degree?"

"That's precisely what I'm suggesting." She grabbed him and, before he could object, the two vanished into another portal. He came out on the other side in front of an office building.

"I hate shrinks."

"Too bad. Go in there and talk to him. You've got the money for walk-ins, and then there's no name you're listed under." He turned to argue back, but she was already gone, leaving him standing alone with a choice to make.

_Bitch!_ He hesitated, but pushed the doors open and walked in. He threw two hundred dollar bills at the secretary and walked straight past her, barging into the shrink's office. Luckily for both of them, she was without a patient at the time.

"Who are you? You can't just walk right in here!" she yelled, standing up against the intrusion. Weaver was glad he wasn't in his armor for once and settled right down on the couch in the center of the room.

"I'm the guy who's gonna pay you a _lot _of money to walk in here whenever I want. Yes or no?" She hesitated for a moment.

"How much money can a punk in a hoodie have?"

"Talk to Zuckerberg, he seems to be doing well for himself. Look, I just need to be able to come here whenever. This isn't that hard, lady." He could feel the cockiness in his words and knew full well what that meant.

_I am being _especially _douchey today!_

"That's not how I typically run things."

"I don't care. Think about the money."

"Fine. What exactly is it you need to talk about?" The shrink, a tall, blonde woman in her early forties with large glasses, sat down on the couch across from him, waiting.

"I don't know, Doc."

"Okay. Let's try to figure out what's wrong first."

"Extremely stressed. Gonna hurt somebody _real _soon if I don't loosen up some tension."

"Alright. When did you start feeling this way?"

"I've been highly stressed for the last two years, but not like this."

"Let's start there, then." Nightweaver went into a long, rambling explanation of what had happened, being excruciatingly careful not to include any vital details or names that could give away his identity. He didn't want for anybody to be able to figure out he was having mental issues, and leaving no paper trail was a very important part of that.

"... so then the guy, after making me choose one of these two girls, just goes ahead and shoots them both, right in front of me."

"How did that make you feel?"

"How would you expect? I felt her blood on my face. There was blood everywhere. I still remember the gun. It was a Taurus Raging Bull. There were bits of bone fragment all over. Then I had to sit there and go through that again."

"I'm incredibly sorry for your losses."

"You don't even know what this is all about. I couldn't take it anymore."

"Many people feel that way after severe trauma. What did you do to alleviate the stress then?"

"I put a bullet through my head, that's what I did."

"Excuse me?"

"That's where this all starts to go downhill. You see, all three of us, we ended up being reunited in what you could classify as an afterlife. Problem was, it was the dominion of Trigon. We were all basically in hell."

"I'm finding this story all very hard to believe, Mr...?"

"Just call me N. There's no need for you to know my name, nor the names of the people I associate with."

"Ah, sorry. Either way, this is all _very _difficult to believe."

"So treat it like it's the truth. I don't care whether or not you believe it. I'm here for your help, not your trust."

"Understood."

"So basically, me and this first girl, we're in the same area. But Trigon's got power over the other, and he's holding her captive, because Trigon and I never got along. He wants to punish me."

"And she's where, exactly?"

"The eleventh stage of hell. We were at the thirteenth. These go in ascending order, as in number one being the highest stage, number thirty six being the deepest, darkest, most vile cesspit imaginable."

"Mmhmm." Weaver wiped some sweat off of his brow and continued on.

"Each of these levels has a different environment. Some of them were freezing cold, some were made of lava and stone, others dense forests or deserts. All very dangerous, filled with demons of all kinds. We fought through to the eleventh stage and get into a scrap with Trigon. He, of course, kicked our asses without lifting a finger and retreated to the thirty second stage."

"Oh my."

"Exactly. You can see how I've been a little stressed out."

"Of course. Now tell me, how exactly did you feel when he got away with... your girlfriend? One of your girlfriends?"

"Just friend at that point. She wasn't happy with me for picking her to die." An alarm went off, cutting Weaver short.

"I'm sorry, but I must get going. My daughter has a dance recital and I might already be late."

"I understand. I don't know when I'll be back."

"I hope soon. You have a very interesting story."

"Glad to hear that." Nightweaver got up and walked through the door, leaving the psychiatrist alone in her office. He stepped out onto the street, feeling the cool wind blowing through his hair. The vigilante looked to his left, then his right, then walked off towards his hotel.

He got off of the elevator and was entirely unsurprised to see Catwoman waiting outside of his door. He was, however, surprised that she hadn't already picked the lock.

"Ah, so you aren't dead," she noted sarcastically as he approached the door.

"Nope. Why aren't you already inside?"

"Felt like you'd be pissed off if I did."

"And Bruce is just fine with it?"

"No, he's just fun to screw with."

"To be honest, I'm more angry you'd show up when you know I've got no mask on."

"Like you care about your secret identity. And before you even start, I know that you consider your real persona dead."

"Good. I'm getting sick of telling people."

"Look, I know you're hurt and all, but it's not permanent." He swiped his keycard and entered the suite, the Cat following close behind him.

"You don't understand." She stepped in front of him, staring angrily.

"Then make me. This is what you couldn't tell me last night, isn't it? Look, you were in a situation I can't honestly expect anybody to be able to handle. No judgements here." He eyed her suspiciously, then moved to the fridge and poured himself a glass of straight vodka.

"I don't trust you on that."

"I know what Sionis does. He made my sister eat her fiance. He cut him into bits and made her eat him. It drove her insane. He's fucked up." He took a sip from the glass and sighed.

"I told him to kill her."

"What? That's a little different."

"It isn't what you're thinking."

"Then explain." She settled down on his couch, getting comfortable.

"All three of us sat down to dinner, her, Raven and I."

"Well wasn't that sweet of you."

"We got our drinks and within a minute we realized we'd been drugged. Even Raven wasn't immune to it, and the girl can practically do anything. When I woke up, they were chained and gagged to the railing, and I was tied up a little in front of them. He was standing there, massive revolver in hand."

"I see where this is going."

"He told me to make a choice. I just couldn't."

"I understand."

"He started counting down from ten. I had to choose. I thought I could save one of them. My mind was clouded, but I figured that if I let Raven live, we might be able to save Kitrina again."

"So you told him to kill her."

"I did. I didn't want her to die, but I was trying my best to make a logical decision. He wasn't true to his word. He broke my will, then spat in my face. He shot Raven next, then grabbed his shotgun and shot my kneecaps off. He left. I'm not going to lie. I broke. I didn't just break, no. I shattered. I sat there crying for what seemed like hours."

"Wait, wait, wait. How did you die, then?"

"I told you. I was a broken man. I couldn't handle life without them, either of them."

"You shot yourself." He nodded, taking in another long gulp of vodka. Catwoman looked at him, an apologetic look playing across her features. "You're gonna be alright, Simon." He let her use of his real name slide.

"So you say. We'll have to see after Black Mask is dead." He turned and walked to the window, looking out at the highrise view of Gotham. She stepped up next to him, the two taking in the view.

"Bruce never goes anywhere this nice and actually enjoys the view."

"I don't know how much I'm _enjoying _it, but I paid for the room, and that includes the windows."

"Aren't you a romantic."

"Not trying to _be _romantic."

"Sorry. Touchy subject, I know."

"It's alright. No harm done."

"What's our plan now?"

"Not sure." He looked around, scanning the rooftops nearby. Just as he did, he saw a white bolt flying towards the window. He tackled Catwoman to the ground and draped himself over her, feeling shards of glass spray over his back. A few stuck in and he wiped them off, lifting himself off of Selina afterwards.

"What the hell was that?" she asked. He looked over at the opposite wall and saw the bolt sticking out from it, a slip of paper dangling from it.

"That." Catwoman stuck the slip onto one of her claws and read it out loud.

"Meet me in Crime Alley at midnight tonight if you want help."

"I guess we're going to Crime Alley then."


	5. Chapter 5 The White Death

Nightweaver and Catwoman both dropped side by side into the center of Crime Alley. The infamous location of the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne had never come back from the citywide tragedy, and it was still widely considered a slum.

"We're waiting?" she asked him, stretching out.

"We're waiting."

"Feeling any better than before?"

"I'd rather we didn't bring that up."

"Look, you're a good guy. You care enough to try and hunt down somebody not even Br- err, Batman could take down. I couldn't take him down."

"Neither could I the first time. I'm not even sure I can now. I'm sorry, just talking about that deal pissed me off."

"It's alright, I-" They were interrupted by the materialization of a figure in all white, wearing large, baggy clothes. He couldn't tell a thing about the person under the costume, not even gender. It appeared as if out of thin air, and spoke quickly.

"Active camouflage. Don't be alarmed." The garbled voice immediately told Nightweaver that this person was _very _interested in keeping their identity secret.

"We're here. Talk to us," he said, impatiently.

"I go by White Death. You are to know me by no other name. One million to find Roman Sionis and take him out. I fail, I pay you back double what you gave me. I take payment before I start the job."

"I'm not giving you a million without you at least starting the job, not without some form of guarantee you'll do it."

"I figured you'd say that." It yanked two pistols out of it's holsters, and Catwoman immediately grabbed one, with Nightweaver taking the others.

"They were my first guns in the business. They mean a lot to me. I'll take them back when the job is done."

"We've already got Deathstroke," Weaver noted. "We may not need you."

"He's an amateur."

"How so?"

"No tact. You may be wondering why you've never heard of me. That would be because I go to great lengths to keep myself hidden."

"I've noticed," Selina quipped.

"One of the requirements of the contract is that you don't speak of me ever again after it's been completed. All of my clients are bound by this. Under no other circumstance will I turn on you, but if you mention my name to _anybody_ that doesn't know it already, I will find you, and I will kill you."

"Somebody's a little feisty."

"Catwoman, please. Look, we'll have to think about it," Weaver explained.

"Tomorrow, midnight, same place, final chance." It vanished, leaving the two alone. Nightweaver walked away, Catwoman following close behind. She wrapped one of her arms through his, clinging to him. He shrugged her off and kept walking.

"You should relax. You're too stressed out."

"It's not just that. I don't know where I stand with Raven. I know Kitrina's probably never going to understand, so that's over, but I don't see it helping anything in the end, at least not right now." She looked disappointed for a moment, but her expression quickly changed to a more kind one quickly.

"You're right. I don't want to cause unnecessary drama."

"And now you know why I'm starting to hate teenage girls."

"Of course." He turned to her and looked her in the eyes, pausing for a moment.

"Look, thank you for caring. This isn't anything about you. From what I know about you, you're a good person. I just don't want to have to deal with other people's shit right now." She smirked and brushed past him, preparing to a nearby fire escape.

"Thanks. Tell me when you need me." She started to jump up, but he yelled after her.

"Wait! You don't have to leave." She turned and eyed him carefully, not sure what to make of the situation. "I'm not going to pretend that I want to be alone right now. I just need you to not take it the wrong way." Catwoman stepped down from the ladder and stopped in front of him.

"Well, let's go then."

"Nothing serious. Not trying to do anything stupid." She smiled, amused at his nervousness.

"Don't worry about it. Seriously." She grabbed his arm, clung onto his waist, and looked at him, waiting for him to use his grappling hook. "Not my first time." He remembered all of a sudden that Batman had a grappling hook and fired his up, dragging himself and Catwoman onto the building they had just been next to. She stepped away from him, and he looked at her oddly.

"I've got to take care of something back at my apartment. I'll meet you at the hotel."

"You don't want me to come with you?"

"You could if you want. Didn't think you'd be interested in helping me feed my cats."

"Gladly. Just a little paranoid." She turned and jumped off towards her apartment, and Weaver followed.

"Of what?" she asked between jumps.

"People I ally myself with tend to go missing the moment I look away," he responded the next time they were side by side.

"I get that. I've been the one that's gone missing before. That's why Bruce never wants me around anymore. Thinks I'm a burden."

"I feel bad for him, I really do."

"I do too, it's just difficult to deal with at times."

"Just try and remember he's been through a lot, and at a young age."

"So were a lot of people."

"Just don't be hard on him."

"I try not to be." They arrived at the side of her apartment building, a small building on the slummy side of town.

"_This_ is where you live?"

"Yeah. I don't steal much anymore."

"You've screwed Bruce Wayne on multiple occasions and the rich bastard won't even buy you a decent apartment?"

"Never asked him to. Felt like he had more important things to do."

"Well, you definitely need an upgrade. I'd be glad to help. I'm not doing all that much with my money anyways."

"What do you have in mind?" she asked, smiling at him sweetly.

"Well, how does Kyle Manor sound to you? Also, no, I don't count this as gold digging." She turned and dragged a claw along his jawline.

"Call it what you like, you're still buying me things. I think it sounds perfect."

Almost an hour later, the two finally arrived back in Weaver's suite. He immediately set out a large piece of paper and taped it flat on the table.

"What's that for?" she asked, pulling her mask off. Her short hair fluffed out of it, and she flattened it down as she walked over beside him.

"We're going to plan out a bit of your mansion."

"Well, what's our price limit?"

"I've had some stockbrokers playing with my finances for a few months now, and since I had five million to throw around, you can probably assume I've got some pretty good cash going on."

"Nice. I don't want anything too big. Not like Wayne Manor. Something big enough so I'd never have to worry about not having enough space, but not so massive that you'd need a map."

"Robin still occasionally talks about that, you know."

"He was always a good kid."

"Alright. I'm thinking only two wings, and a false sewer hideout."

"False sewer?"

"We have them build a false sewer tunnel from here to here," he said, drawing lines under the ground line. "Then, we take out a chunk of the wall and replace it with a deep, underground fortress. Lead lined, of course. It'll be hard to secure enough lead once we hit a certain size, though."

"Do you know how Bruce got his? I know the Batcave is."

"The cave was naturally done like that. The rocks that make it up are made of dense granite and lead."

"One of the few things that might be hard to buy and the bastard ends up with it for free."

"I'll have my architect draw up some plans and see how you like it."

"Thanks for this, Simon. It's really nice of you. Bruce has been giving me enough money to survive on, but not much else."

"Like you said, he's got a lot on his mind." Almost on cue, there was a knock at the door. Weaver opened it up and was surprised to find Batman himself. Selina was behind Simon, the same look of shock on her face.

"He _can _use doors!"

"I can. Let me in, please." They stepped aside and let him through, his presence almost controlling the room.

"What's up, Bats?" Weaver asked.

"I was just checking on you. Making sure that you're not as out of it as you were the other day."

"Slowly recovering."

"Seems like a pretty fast recovery to me."

"I went and saw a psychiatrist yesterday. Helped a bit. Selina's talked me through some of it."

"Good to know. I'd like to remind you that you've got plenty of help around here. _Legal. Help._" He enunciated the last two words heavily.

"I take it you know about the people I contacted."

"Definitely. I'm fine with you working with Red Hood, and I'm glad you've limited the gang violence to attacking other gangs, but it could have disastrous results. The main gangs of Gotham united could cause more problems than you think. Be careful."

"I will. I'm not going to act like I trust those guys. I just need them to get Roman's attention."

"Good."

"Gonna warn him about _me, _too?" Selina asked, almost sarcastically. "Let the kid do his work. He isn't an idiot. He figured out who you are, and who I am, and I'm sure a bunch of other people, too."

"Good detective work doesn't mean good logic. I'm not stopping him, I'm just telling him to be careful. Have a nice evening." He half stormed, half calmly walked out of the room.

"He really doesn't look right just _walking _through a door," Weaver noted. Selina looked at him with an expression that just read _right?_, and the two returned to the table. "Next, what are we going to do about Sionis? I've got the gangs causing trouble, but we don't have a full attack plan."

"He controls damn near every abandoned warehouse. Half of them are where he assembles his guns, the other half are drug running fronts."

"So we hit the guns."

"No. Better defenses there. We shouldn't attack it head on."

"What are you suggesting, then?"

"They bring in massive crates of ammunition from black market sources. One of those crates has something explode inside of it, the heat could ignite the gunpowder in the bullets and start a nice chain reaction."

"The whole warehouse would explode if it got enough power behind it."

"And?" she asked, smirking deviously. "We can just blame it on some psycho like Joker."

"We'd be no better than Roman. I'm not objecting to killing, but I don't think planning the destruction of several buildings is something I want to do. Sorry."

"I know, I was just playing. In all seriousness, I think we should do the bomb in the ammo, just make it small enough to not start something larger than we can control. Large distraction. While they're all taking cover, we cut the power. Leave them in the dark for a few minutes, let their eyes get used to the dark. Flashbangs through all the windows, once their eyes have gotten used to the dark. They'll be so disoriented that it would almost be too easy to take them all out."

"You're smarter than you let on."

"They say that about Joker's bitch Harley too, but I've never seen anything good come out of that quack."

"Okay, but she's a psychopathic Joker fan. You're just psychopathic." She playfully smacked him and they continued on.

"Next, I say we thin his herd. Take out as many of them as possible. Then, we'd be able to take out his drug operations, and-" Selina was interrupted as a massive explosion shocked the western half of Gotham.

"What the fuck was that?!" Weaver shouted. He ran into the other room and snapped his armor on. Catwoman was already in her suit. They ran out of the door, slid the nearest window open, and jumped out, traveling as quickly as they good to the epicenter of the explosion. They both stopped on a building and watched in awe.

Red Hood was single-handedly taking on an entire platoon of Black Mask's men. The False Facers tried and tried to shoot him down, but he was moving so quickly, aiming so precisely with his pistols, that they couldn't hope to hit him. He whittled the men down until only one was left standing, and he dispatched him with a midair roundhouse kick. He dropped like a rock, leaving Red Hood the last man standing. Nightweaver dropped down beside him, putting his hand on his back.

"You alright?"

"Fine."

"What the hell was that?"

"Got sick of waiting on your slow ass. Just took out one of his gun storage warehouses."

"Wait, let me guess!" Catwoman interjected, and Nightweaver couldn't resist laughing.

"Bomb in an ammo crate." She looked at Nightweaver, who was just trying to keep himself contained.

"Look, we got contacted by a professional assassin," Weaver said after recovering. "Says that he...she... it... Screw it, I don't know. Says they're better than Deathstroke. We might be able to cut the head right off of the snake."

"Sounds good to me. You know where to find me." He walked away, obviously irritated.

"He really _is not _growing on me," Selina complained.

"Let's head back and just count this as first strike."

"I am impressed with his fighting though, that was pretty good."

They returned to the suite, and Catwoman immediately disappeared into one of the back rooms. She came back wearing a plaid shirt and jeans; he still hadn't seen her in just civilian clothes.

"I'm not going out again tonight. Screw that."

"I take it you're spending the night here?"

"Beds are a little more comfortable than in my apartment. And no, I'm not sleeping with you."

"Wasn't even gonna ask. So, are we gonna hire this "White Death" person, or no?"

"I'd say yes. Worse comes to worse, we kick his ass."

"You sure it's a 'he'?"

"Nope. Just too lazy to keep up with 'it'."

"Well, it's about one now, so I say we get up at about ten and get to work."

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning, then. Shouldn't have bothered getting dressed..." she muttered as she walked off into her room. Weaver's Titans communicator buzzed; he'd reactivated it since he hadn't been in his armor as much. He checked the message, and saw it was from Robin.

_In town. Looking to help. Where are you?_

_ Not tonight. Tomorrow. About to sleep. _He got a message back almost immediately.

_We were looking to stay with you tonight. Could stay with Batman instead._

_ We?_ A picture came in, showing that all of them, including Kitrina, had come to Gotham.

_I guess we could fit you in. I'm staying in the Hilton, top floor suite._

_We?_

_ Shit. I'll explain when you get here._ Twenty minutes later, Robin showed up on his doorstep, the Titans right behind him.

"You guys just wait out here for a minu-"

"No, no, you can come in. It's big enough. Just stick to the main area for now." They piled in, and he took Robin back into his room to talk.

"Who's this 'we'?"

"I've already contacted a number of people here, and I've been planning a lot of stuff. I've been with Selina almost all day, and she's crashing here for the night. I don't want Kitrina or Raven to walk in and think that we- well, you know."

"I understand. Look, I'll keep them distracted for a little while, you go in and tell her what's going on, lock the door and we can take care of it all in the morning." He nodded and waited for Robin to get the team's attention, then quietly half-snuck into Catwoman's room. She'd nearly fallen asleep, but was still awake enough to jump when he entered.

"What happened to nothing happening?" she asked, still trying to lead him on.

"Look, the Titans just showed up. Kitrina's here too. I'm gonna lock your door so that she doesn't get the wrong idea."

"Great. Kids. Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night." He turned the lock on the door and left, double checking the knob as he walked away. He approached the rest of the group, still looking on as Robin occupied time. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, waiting for him to finish. Cyborg turned around and noticed him first, and he looked happy to see him.

"Sup, man! How you been?"

"Better, you?"

"Great. Beat Scarecrow's ass and he's sitting in prison right about now."

"Good." Starfire turned to him and awkwardly greeted him.

"Hello, friend! It is good of you to lend us your lodgings for the night!" He smiled a little bit, her awkwardness easing his own. The others had realized he was there by now, and had turned to say hello.

"No problem, Star. Raven, Kitrina, Beast Boy, nice to see you all too." Beast Boy seemed to have lightened up since they'd last met; Raven was, as always, difficult to read and a little moody. Catgirl both looked like she had no interest in being there and had nothing but him in mind at the same time. "Look, I'd like to talk strategy tonight, but I'm wiped right now. One of the back rooms is off limits for now, we'll take care of that tomorrow, but there are two free ones. They've both got queen sized beds, so if you don't mind sharing with somebody you'll be fine, but otherwise the only place I've got is the couch."

"I don't really need to sleep," Cyborg noted. "So we only need to fit five people in."

"I can sleep on one of the couches," Robin said, volunteering himself.

"I'm either sleeping alone or not at all," Raven said in an almost passive-aggressive way.

"I'm good on the other couch," BB said, plopping down on the nearest one and laying back. He clearly was just as tired as Weaver was.

"I will gladly share a bed with Catgirl so that Raven may be alone as she requested."

"I'm fine with that."

"Alright, glad we got that sorted out. Thanks for coming, guys. We'll talk more tomorrow, promise." He retreated back into his room, but stopped when he realized somebody was following him. Kitrina was standing behind him, looking confused.

"Nightweaver," she said, breathing out the name like it was some forbidden phrase. "I... wh-..."

"You want to know why I did what I did." She nodded. He told her why, making sure to go into detail about what his logic had exactly been. "Look, I was drugged, my mind was foggy, I couldn't really think straight. I'm sorry, Kitrina. I really am. Are you okay?" She sat down on the end of his bed, still obviously confused.

"I think so. Are... are you?"

"I'm getting better. Look, go ahead and go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow. I'm sure this will go better if we're not both tired as hell." He hugged her, then patted her back, politely telling her to leave the room. He laid down, closed his eyes, and rested.


	6. Chapter 6 Coming Together

Simon woke up to the sound of his alarm at 9:45. He shut it off quickly to prevent the others from waking up. He stepped outside and was surprised to find that Robin was still asleep. He was typically awake before the sun came up.

He grabbed two cups of coffee, poured plenty of sugar in, and unlocked Catwoman's door with his keycard. He set them down, closed the door, and shook her lightly to wake her. She jumped, but he calmed her down quickly and gave her the coffee.

"Lots of sugar?"

"I figured that's how you'd take it. I've got a knack for it."

"The kids awake?"

"They aren't kids, they're just a little younger than me. No, they aren't. Not yet, that is."

"I'll wake Kitrina up. She probably doesn't trust you much right now."

"We talked last night. She seems confused."

"I'll take care of it." She sipped at her coffee, brightening up with each drink.

"Leave the part about the White Death out. That's gonna spark some interest that I don't think we want."

"Agreed. Bruce would probably be pretty pissed about it himself."

"You know, I think we make a pretty good pair. We should team up more often."

"I'll consider it," she joked, smiling. "How are we going to handle all of this, other than what we already covered?"

"The others will probably understand that you just crashed here, I was just worrying about Kitrina's reaction to it. We've got to come up with a game plan, is all."

"Let's do it, then." She got out from under the covers and got dressed; Weaver waited politely, and the two walked out into the main room. Robin was awake now, stretching for the day to come.

"You sure you're alright without putting your mask on?" Simon asked before continuing.

"Yeah. Not really much of a mask, anyways. Hell, refer to me by name if you'd like. Not like I have much of a personal life to defend anymore." He slapped Beast Boy, who was drooling all over the couch. He sputtered back to life, looking around in a daze.

"Wake up. Where's Cy?"

"Uhh... Something about getting waffles downstairs."

"Shit. I'll be back. Selina, get Kitrina like we talked about." He rushed out of the door and hit the elevator. As soon as it hit the ground floor, he walked towards the continental breakfast. Cyborg was sitting at a table eating a worrisome amount of food.

"Hey rust bucket, c'mon. The others are waking up." He looked at him, stuffed a waffle into his mouth, and dumped his plate into the trash.

"About time." They got into the elevator, and Cyborg finally spoke his mind. "Look, man. We're all worried about you. Catgirl's been a mess since that whole incident. We want to know how you're doing."

"I saw a shrink the other day, it helped a bit. And then... Well, you'll see her in a minute."

"Her?"

"Nothing's happening, just got to talk some stuff out. Raven didn't tell you I was seeing a shrink?"

"Didn't say a word."

"Odd." The elevator doors opened and they went back into the suite. Beast Boy was still passed out, but everybody except for the two Cats had gathered around the table.

"There you are," Robin said, relieved to see him. "So, game plan?" Simon briefly went over their plan, explaining how they would take out the means of offense and defense, then take out Black Mask's monetary gains from Gotham in an effort to draw him out.

"So we're _trying _to piss off the guy that killed all three of you without hesitating to fuck you up in the head?" BB asked, debating the logic behind the plan.

"We're more prepared to take him off the map this time." Selina emerged from her room, Kitrina following close behind.

"Who's that?" Cyborg asked.

"That is the current holder of pretty much all the intel we've got on Black Mask."

"That doesn't give me a name." Simon gave her a look, silently asking her to introduce herself.

"Selina Kyle. Catwoman, for those of you who don't know." A moment of silence came over the group for a moment before BB spoke up again.

"So we're working with villains now?"

"She's not really a villain anymore. Never was, in my eyes. I'm siding with anybody that wants Sionis gone. You're not going to meet all of them, hopefully."

"Great," BB groaned.

"Point is, we hit his supply warehouses, he's got nowhere to collect his stuff, and then things get difficult. He'll lose millions."

"Sounds like a good reason for him to want you dead," Robin commented.

"I think we all know he doesn't need a good reason."

Nightweaver and Catwoman had both separated from the group and gone off on their own. They needed to scout out certain areas, and the entire group had split off into groups of two, save for Raven, who stayed to herself. They'd reached the tip of a crane overlooking a cluster of Black Mask's warehouses. Nightweaver used his armor's optics to zoom in on each one, taking pictures of them.

"Top of the ship in the port over there would be a good spot to take pictures next," Catwoman suggested. He nodded, took a few more pictures, then nodded his head in the direction of the ship and the two took off towards it, swinging from building to building until they reached their target. He started taking pictures, but felt bad for ignoring Selina.

"You mind answering a question for me?"

"Depends on the question."

"Alright, stop me if you don't want to answer, but how in the _hell _are you not a taken woman?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't see how you don't even have a real boyfriend. I mean, does Batman count?"

"We're nowhere close to together. We've had our flings, but I wouldn't even suggest that we're a couple. And I think that's just a matter of not having correct opportunity. You don't meet a lot of guys trying to stay hidden, you know?"

"I get that, just surprising. If I didn't know who you were and just saw you on the street, I'd probably hit on you. Just saying."

"Thanks. Nice to know that being a professional thief is natural guy-repellant."

"You know I didn't mean it like that. To be honest, I kinda feel like if I hit on you, you'd slit my throat in my sleep or something." She laughed at him, and his face flushed.

"So you're saying I _intimidate _you?"

"You are a _master_ at twisting my words!" He reduced the zoom on his visor, searching the skyline for more good viewpoints.

"I'm just saying, there's no shame in being intimidated by a woman."

"Never said there was. Just that it's not really like that. Less intimidating and more just eerily suspicious. I almost feel like you're _too _nice. Like it's all an act and you're going to fuck me over somehow." He looked over at her, and she was staring at him like he was a moron.

"Look, I've got problems with Sionis, you've got problems with Sionis, it only makes sense to work together. Anything else, I could understand the distrust."

"Sorry. I didn't mean that I didn't trust you. Just paranoid. You always hear all these stories about guys getting tricked into doing stupid shit by pretty girls, you know?"

"You're not very good at explaining yourself."

"Do you at least get some of the point?"

"You don't trust me because of my physical appearance?" she asked sarcastically.

"Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Pity. You're cute when you're scrambling. And to be entirely honest, it might just be that I've not really been looking for a guy to be with. I kinda just figured it would happen when it would happen. Alright, my turn."

"Hm?"

"Why'd you ask?" He paused for a moment, trying to calculate his response.

"Just curious."

"You sure that's all you're curious about?"

"I already told you, I don't know my situation with those two."

"Doesn't mean you can't have an interest in somebody else. No shame in it."

"Fine, yes. Happy?"

"Yes what?" She was practically smiling ear to ear, torturing him as she was.

"I have entertained the idea that being with you could be fun. Satisfied yet?"

"Nope. I'll be satisfied when you go through with it."

"Oh, so I'm not just alone in this?"

"We're not playing this little game."

"Yes we are, and you know it."

"I have entertained the idea that being with you could be fun. Satisfied yet?"

"Yeah, I can deal with that."

"Easy to please, good to know."

"Better than high maintenance. Let's head out to another viewpoint, we've gotten all we c-" His communicator buzzed, and he saw that Robin had sent him a message.

_Meet back at hotel. Catgirl and Cyborg found something we all need to worry about._

_ Be there in a few. Left the door unlocked._

"What was that?"

"Need to head back to the hotel."

"Why?"

"Somebody found something. No idea what." Catwoman grabbed his head and pulled his helmet off, unlocking the armor joints as she pulled it off. She gave him a quick kiss, then handed him the helmet back.

"That never happened."

"Just saying, I have a button to take the facemask part off." He pressed the button on his forearm and the metal withdrew deeper inside of the helmet.

"That would've been nice to know." He slipped the helmet back on, locked it into place, and cracked his neck.

"Ready to go?"

"I guess."

They arrived at the hotel, and Nightweaver walked into the suite, Catwoman following closely behind him. Robin and the others were already inside, all looking worried.

"What is it?" Weaver asked, hoping it wasn't as bad as he imagined.

"Catgirl and Cyborg were exploring in the south side warehouses when... Well, they can explain better," Robin said, shifting attention to the other two. Kitrina stepped forward, Cyborg right behind her. She looked more composed than last time, oddly enough.

"We found a passageway into an underground substructure beneath the warehouse. Cyborg started scanning, and he found something that made us a little worried."

"Black Mask's got two fallback plans. One, he's been exposing already dangerous animals to different experiments. I couldn't tell exactly, but it seems like he's got a mutant army ready to launch. I doubt he could control them, but he could let them run wild."

"Number two?" Catwoman asked.

"Well, I figured that the radiation levels were normal for something like that, but as we continued exploring the substructure, they kept getting higher. I can't confirm for sure, but I can say with eighty percent certainty that he's got some kind of nuclear weapon." Weaver hung his head down, the stakes now much higher.

"Shit. We need to call in Batman on this." They all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Weaver and I can go and get Batma-" Catwoman tried to say, but was interrupted.

"No, I'll go alone. You help them with planning and scouting. I don't know when I'll be back, but we need to act fast."

Nightweaver jumped across the ditch separating the Batcave and the area outside. Nobody was inside, but he noticed that the walkway into Wayne Manor was open. Alfred must have been cleaning. He climbed up, knocking on the wall in an effort to announce himself. Bruce poked his head around a corner, book in hand.

"What are you doing here?"

"We've got problems."


	7. Chapter 7 Not What You Thought

Seventy two hours had passed since the discovery of Black Mask's fallback plan, and Simon hadn't calmed down a bit. They'd contacted the White Death, but the threat of nuclear destruction had put them all on edge; the Titans had opted to have their own rooms, leaving Nightweaver and Catwoman alone again. He was laying down on the couch, trying to come up with solutions to the problem. Selina had been pacing back and forth for almost an hour. They were both anxious.

"You got anything?" he asked, hoping she'd been able to come up with something.

"Nothing. Sorry." He sighed, the situation weighing heavily on him.

"Well, while we're alone, nothing's changed between us?"

"I don't think this is the best time."

"Well neither of us have been able to come up with anything, and the best ideas always come to me when I'm distracted."

"Fine. Well, for the record, I think that we should just go ahead and try not to let them notice. As long as you're sure you want to go through with this." He stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Not at all. That's part of the thrill." He tried to kiss her, but she pulled away.

"Look, I like you and all, but I need some guarantee that you're not just gonna ditch me. Promise. I'm not asking for a promise that we're never going to break up. I know things don't work out sometimes, but I don't want to open up just to get hurt. So promise me that."

"As long as you do the same."

"Fine. I promise."

"I do too." A smile played across his face for a minute, then quickly vanished.

"What's wrong?"

"I think we're hitting Black Mask all wrong."

"Why?"

"Because what's the easiest way to get to somebody in power?"

"Walk into his office?"

"Exactly. And who gets to just walk into Black Mask's office?"

"A few people. Anybody that has to report to him. His secretary, his partners."

"Exactly."

"We can't put you in. He'll recognize you. Same for me, or Bruce, or Kitrina. Most of the Titans, too."

"Not Deadshot either. We were all in prison together briefly. Deathstroke's too famous. He'll recognize the voice alone."

"We need to figure out somebody we can trust that he won't be able to notice. Either way, good idea." She pecked him on the cheek, and he stopped for a moment.

"You know, you've got _really _pretty eyes." She smirked at him and laughed a little. "What?"

"You sound so awkward complimenting people. Stick to what you do." He'd meant it; her green eyes sparkled almost like emeralds when she was enjoying herself. He'd already decided that Selina Kyle was one of the most physically attractive women he'd ever met, and he wasn't surprised at all that she'd made her way into Batman's heart.

_Shit, how's Bruce gonna take this? I mean, he might already know, because he saw us the other night. Were they really together, though?_

"So, what exactly was between you and Bruce? I just want to know how we should approach this."

"Occasionally we'd end up getting together, but it was nothing much. I tried to get serious with him once and we didn't talk for a month, and we only started talking again because I told him we could just keep it casual like we had been."

"Sounds like he was scared."

"_Bruce? Scared?_ Of _what_, exactly?"

"Losing you."

"Are you trying to make me feel bad? Cause it might be working."

"Sorry. That's just why I was worried about him being hurt by it."

"It's Bruce. I've seen the man win a fight against twenty guys with a knife jabbed into his ribs and shards of glass in his knuckles. He gets hurt, he buries it and never talks about it again."

"I take it you've had some experience."

"I tried talking to him about his parents once. I pushed a little more than I should have."

"Why do you say that?"

"Let's just say that that's the only time I've ever seen him punch somebody and apologize for it."

"He hit you?"

"Yeah, but I'm not mad about it. Wasn't really then, either. If it affected him enough to drive him to beat the shit out of criminals for the rest of his life, I knew that if I pushed too far it might drive him over the edge. He started saying sorry literally the second he'd realized what he did. The man cried, Simon. I knew he'd just lost it for a second."

"Hard to remember sometimes that he's human."

"Snores like an elephant."

"Hey, let's get suited up and go scouting down where Kitrina and Cy were. I want to see exactly what's down there."

"Agreed." They were both ready in minutes and left, departing for southern Gotham.

"So, tell me, why did you get into what you did?" Weaver asked on the way there.

"Necessity. No money. Had to eat."

"Same."

"You were a thief?"

"Oh, nobody told you?" They both stopped on a rooftop for a moment, getting their bearings.

"No. Just said you'd been recruited."

"My parents died when I was younger and I had to start stealing to survive, or I'd get thrown into an orphanage. I didn't want to get caught."

"Same. At least, I think they died. I never knew my parents." He looked at her apologetically, understanding her pain as best he could.

"Sorry."

"Not like you had anything to do with it."

"I just mean that I feel bad for you." She backflipped off of the roof and he chased after her, the couple swinging through the city as the bright lights began fading and were replaced with flickering neon signs.

"Don't. I made it work, and yeah, some bad stuff happened, but I don't regret it. I stole. I killed. I did what I needed to do to live. You get that, right?"

"I do." They arrived at the hatch Catgirl and Cyborg had described days before.

"I've got better armor. Let me go in first," Nightweaver said, volunteering himself.

"I'm more quiet. If there's anybody in there, they won't notice me." She opened the hatch and climbed the ladder down before he could argue back. He watched as she flicked her goggles over her eyes and disappeared into the darkness. He stood around for several long, silent minutes before her head came back into view.

"Come on. Coast is clear." He dropped down the hatch, landing with a small splash. There were five men all ziptied together at the wrists and knocked out.

"Nice."

"Told you I was quiet." She nimbly walked along the center of a pipe, Weaver following behind. He did thermal scans on the walls, seeing various figures through them.

"Looks like we've got three in the next room. One's asleep, the other two are playing some card game. I'll get them."

"Show your stuff, kid." He walked forward as silently as he could, but the guards noticed him almost immediately. He shot the first to turn with his taser, then fired a grappling hook at the other. It hit him in the solar plexus, pushing him forward, before Nightweaver jerked him back viciously. His head snapped forward and he let him go, bouncing several times before rolling to a stop.

"Stay down if you don't want me to break every bone in your body." The three men stayed down on the ground, including the one who had been sleeping, having been awoken by his friend's impact on the ground.

"Nice one, Weaver." They continued down the tunnel, moving slowly and quietly, but keeping a relaxed pace.

"I didn't think our first date would be in an underground tunnel hunting for nukes, you?"

"I was more picturing sewers, to be honest, but this is good, too." They smiled at each other, but continued walking down the path. His communicator buzzed, and he blinked the feed onto his HUD. Robin showed up on his screen.

"Catwoman, watch for enemies. What do you need?"

"Where are you two?"

"Gathering intel on Roman's WMDs."

"Get finished ASAP. We-"

"We'll take as long as we need. There's an entire city at stake. Nightweaver out." He blinked Robin's feed away and tapped Catwoman on the small of her back, letting her know they were moving on.

"Somebody's a little feisty."

"Never liked him having control of me. Not a fan of being at somebody's beck and call."

"You'll _hate _me then!" She curled her whip around his neck and pulled him in, pressing the button that undid his facemask. She pressed her lips to his for a moment, but he stopped her before they could get into it.

"We need to do this first, Selina. I promise, we can have as much fun as you want once we're done." He kissed her quickly, then drew away from her and slid his facemask back into place. She looked disappointed, but her expression softened.

"You're right. Sorry."

"Don't get me wrong, _love _the enthusiasm. I'd love to break down and make out with you right now. There's just more at stake. Come on." They quickly arrived at a split in the tunnel. "Stick together, or split up?" She mulled it over in her head for a moment before pointing him down one tunnel and walking down the other. "Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt." Selina ignored him, vanishing into the darkness of the tunnels.

_Great. Passive aggressive bullshit._ He walked off, choosing to ignore the situation for now. His footsteps seemed infinitely louder in the enclosed space, echoing off of each and every wall. He felt horribly clumsy compared to the slyness of Catwoman.

_I should try and get Cyborg to help me make myself more quiet. I hate being this painfully obvious. _He reached a bend in the tunnel and pressed up against the corner, leaning his head out to scout the area. He saw a few armed men standing around a door, talking to somebody. He looked a little closer and-

_No. Not now. No! _Black Mask was standing there, cool as snow, talking to his henchmen and giving them a piece of his mind. He activated the long range hearing devices in his ears and listened in.

"You guys are _morons. _This shouldn't be that hard. How many times do I have to explain that _you are here for show_?! This door is wired to vaporize anything living that walks through it without the passcode. I don't need any more dead guys right now. Trouble shows up, you tell it that you're it's _bitch!_ You do as it _says!_ And you watch as the dumbass turns into a pile of _ash!_"

_Hold it, hold it, hold it, don't flip out, find your center, calm yourself... _Nightweaver was having to force himself to hold back from running out and attacking Sionis right there and then.

_Don't. He's got a nuke. Something like a nuke. He could blow up everything in Gotham with a push of a button, or something even worse. I can't ju-_

_ FUCK IT._ He charged headfirst out towards them, tackling the first he ran into to the ground and spinning back to one knee. He punched the second guard in the stomach, grabbed his gun, and flipped him, still holding onto the assault rifle. Nightweaver hesitated for a moment, gun in hand, then shot the two guards, watching as blood pooled from their bodies. He removed the clip from the guard's gun, popped the bullet in the chamber out, then threw it to the ground.

"Simon Weaver. Well shit, I didn't expect you this early." They began circling each other; Black Mask took his white suit jacket off and tossed it into the cleanest corner he could find, then started to roll up his sleeves.

"Simon Weaver is dead, Roman." Nightweaver cracked his neck, then his knuckles.

"So's Roman Sionis. Guess we've got something in common, kid."

"Fuck you, we've got nothing in common."

"Dead parents."

"You killed yours!"

"Still dead. You remind me a lot of a younger me. Just as unst-"

"FUCK YOU!" He threw a wild punch at him, but Black Mask easily dodged, ducking under it and elbowing him hard in the ribs. Weaver was too angry to focus on anything; even his willpower-based telekinesis was unusable. Black Mask took advantage of this, and had already planned the fight out. Nightweaver tried to spin and elbow his opponent in the head, but he was already on the other side of him, hitting him with a quick one-two punch to the jaw. He was dazed; no amount of armor on his head could stop the shaking that his brain just took. He stumbled and fell, and Black Mask stomped onto his forearm, hitting the button that removed his faceplate.

"How did y-" He was stopped as Sionis stomped on his face, shattering a few of his teeth. He could feel the blood beginning to gather in his mouth, barely able to get his hands up to defend himself, only able to reduce the pain and unable to stop it. He finally recovered and grabbed Roman's foot on a subsequent stomp, tossing it to the side and throwing it off balance. As he got up, he noticed he had picked up the empty assault rifle, and came at him with the stock. Black Mask smashed it into his face, another spurt of blood flying out of his mouth.

"You've pissed me off enough, kid. This is it." Nightweaver woke up at the thought of losing to his nemesis and surges of adrenaline shot through him. As Black Mask went to rifle butt him again, he pushed the gun to the side, grabbed Roman's arm, yanked him closer, and brought his elbow into his face at the same time. He dropped the gun and grabbed at his face, unable to properly clutch at his wound through the mask. Weaver clicked his facemask back into place and socked Roman in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground.

"You're right," he taunted, spitting out blood to the side. "This _is _it." Black Mask jumped to his feet and tackled Nightweaver, but was met with a taser to the ribs. It remarkably didn't phase him, and Sionis smashed Weaver's head into the wall, sparking millions of tiny stars in front of his eyes.

"Not today! You'll get what you deserve, punk!" He grabbed his suit jacket and ran off before Nightweaver could fully regain motor functions. He was barely able to get out his communicator and put out a distress signal before he passed out.


	8. Chapter 8 The Ass Kicking of a Lifetime

"Simon! Wake up! Simon!" He slowly stretched open his eyelids and saw Catwoman crouched in front of him. "Wake the hell up. I know you're alive in there."

"I'm... fine..." he muttered through broken teeth and torn lips.

"What the hell happened?"

"Mask..."

"Black Mask? He was here? He did this?" All he could do was nod, his breathing still ragged. "Where did he go?" She pressed the button on his arm, grimacing at the sight of his mouth.

"Don't know. Ran."

"Shit. Did you at least do a number on him?" He smiled, cracking some of the still-forming scabs on his lips.

"Hell yeah." She smirked a little, then stood.

"You know if you can walk?"

"Still woozy. Help?" He was trying to use as few words as possible; talking hurt.

"In a minute. Look around for your teeth. You look like a redneck." She bent over and gathered a few in her hand, and he checked around him and grabbed two. He took the ones she had grabbed from her and put them into his thigh pouch, then took her hand and stood up with her help. He leaned heavily against her, hardly able to stand from the last smash against the wall. "I already know how he did this to you. Black Mask is a master of mind games. He's got you under his finger so well that he just has to be mentioned for you to get pissed off." He stopped, looked at her with disgust, then pushed away from her and stumbled off.

"Screw you. He's got nothing on me."

"Bullshit, Simon. H-"

"Nightweaver."

"It doesn't matter! Until you can admit that, he's just going to do this again and again. Now come on." She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and half dragged him to the exit. She looked like she was debating how to get him up the ladder, but she brushed her off and climbed up himself, dragging himself onto the ground above and rolling onto his back. Selina came up after him and pulled him to his feet.

"Use your grappling hook. We're never going to make it there on foot. Black Mask is going to send somebody after you.

"Can't right now. Take it." He popped the glove off and slipped it onto her hand, putting her in control of getting them there.

"There's a reason I don't use these things." She pressed the manual launch button and the hook shot up at the building above them; she almost lost her grip, but was able to bring the two of them to the roof. "This isn't going to work. I'm calling Batman."

"Don't. He's got his own shit to worry about."

"You haven't seen how much blood you're drooling out. I've never seen somebody bleed that much from their mouth. Not even Batman." He looked down, vision still hazy, and saw that he'd bled all over the roof just from the few seconds they were there.

"Fine." He got the word out and almost collapsed, dropping to a knee.

"Bruce, we need help. It's Nightweaver. He's hurt. Bad. Bleeding a lot. I'll explain when you get here. Hurry." She crouched down to him and took his helmet off, trying to help calm him down. "Breathe. Think. Clear your head. You've probably got a serious concussion."

"Yeah... I'll be alright. Just need some time..." They heard the Batmobile pull onto the street below them, and within seconds the Bat himself was right there next to them.

"Catwoman, in the Batmobile. Nightweaver?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't bleed on the seats." He grabbed him and jumped off of the roof, using his cape to slow his descent. He helped him into the passenger seat of the armored car, then went around to the other side and got in.

"He'll be fine, he just needs to rest. Not sleep. Severe concussion. Just keep him awake for a few hours, but after that he'll need to stay off duty for a couple of days."

"Know a dentist?" Selina asked. Weaver reached into his pocket and presented his missing and broken teeth to Batman.

"I'll get Alfred to take care of that for you tomorrow. Bad idea to try for it now."

"I'm sorry, Simon. I should have stayed with you."

"Not your fault."

"Black Mask is tricky. He's made me contemplate giving up before. You should have waited for backup, but I can't blame you for going in alone. Good job, Nightweaver." Batman looked sympathetic as he put the Batmobile on autopilot to the hotel.

"Don't patronize me. I screwed up."

"I didn't say that you didn't. I don't think many people could have done differently. I wouldn't have."

"Simon, shut up." He listened, not particularly feeling like fighting anymore. They pulled up to the hotel within a few minutes and Batman helped them up to their floor.

"Get inside, keep him awake for three hours at least, then get some rest. We can move on without him for now."

"Thanks, Bruce, really."

"Just don't let him die." With that, Batman vanished, leaving them at the door. Catwoman pounded on the door, and Kitrina opened it. Selina pushed Simon into the door, and Kitrina gasped at the damage done to her ex's face.

"Get me some wet washcloths, now!" she asked, sending Kitrina off in search for them. Selina kissed him on the cheek, and he looked at her questioningly. "I felt bad. I stormed off like that and you got your ass kicked because I wasn't there. I'm sorry."

"This wasn't your fault."

"We'll talk about it when you're better." He attempted a smile, and she got the message. Kitrina returned with some rags, and Selina started to gently wipe the blood away from his face, careful not to get into any of the tears in his skin.

"He psyched me out..." he breathed out, barely letting the words escape his throat.

"What?" Kitrina asked, still piecing together what happened.

"I can't control myself around him. Need to be calm."

"You're right," Selina added in agreement. "If you'd been able to hold off until I got there, we could have beaten him then and there."

"I'll... do better." The two girls cleaned him up for almost an hour, doing their best to keep him awake. On the other side of town, something entirely different was going on.

Robin jumped down from a pipe high above Black Mask's warehouse, landing nimbly on a balcony above it. The villain had retreated into one of his buildings after his confrontation with Nightweaver; Batman had just called him and informed him of the details. He turned and looked around, noting that the door on the balcony was locked. It didn't rightly matter, he would get in it if he needed to regardless, but he was making note of everything he could as he always did. He peered into one of the windows on the door and, satisfied he could enter stealthily, picked the lock with a lockpick from his utility belt. The door creaked open quietly, and Robin slipped in, making sure to lock the door again behind him to prevent anybody noting something out of place.

He was in a small, dark room; the door on the other side was open, revealing a catwalk into a brightly lit storeroom.

_Going to be hard to sneak out onto that catwalk. Need to find another way. _He noted the air vent above him and knew his path immediately. He grabbed it and unscrewed the corners quickly, climbed into it, and pulled it shut behind him. It was cramped, but Robin was able to crawl around. He crawled and crawled and crawled, stopping when he started to hear voices. He took a small razor from his belt and cut a slit in the metal, peering down into the warehouse. Black Mask was sitting on a chair, visibly wounded.

_Must've been a rough fight. Too bad Sionis won._ He was being tended to by two of his men, and they were discussing current plans.

"So, did they find the 'nuke', boss?" one of them asked, making air quotes at "nuke".

"Oh yeah, they found it alright. Dumbasses don't even know what they're about to walk into."

"Chemo's gonna kick their asses."

"He's really too gullible," Black Mask noted, beginning a long, ego-fueled speech on how well he fooled it into becoming his weapon.

_Idiot._ Robin activated his communicator and sent a message out.

Nightweaver's communicator buzzed; so did Kitrina's right next to it. They both opened theirs at the same time, reading the message as fast as possible.

_In Black Mask's warehouse. He seems hurt and there's only a few. Advise? You two know him best._ They looked at each other and shook their heads wordlessly. Weaver started typing quickly, hoping to stop him quickly.

_Don't fight him alone. Last time we fought we were about equal. I don't want him hurting you too. Just put some surveillance equipment in there and get out. Catgirl agrees with me. We'll take him down together._

_ Alright. Heading back to the hotel. How are you holding up?_

_ Still bleeding. Glad the girls are here to clean me up._

_ So, I'm taking it you and Catwoman are getting along well?_

_ You're asking more than just that question, aren't you?_

_ Of course._

_ Not answering until you ask the real question._

_ You're together, aren't you?_

_ Yeah. Keep it quiet. We don't want the Bat to know._

_ He probably already knows. I know they were somewhat together, but he made it pretty clear that he wasn't serious about it. No need to be ashamed._

_ That, and I don't want her to end up just like Catgirl. A target Black Mask can use against me._

_ That, I understand. Be there in a minute._ Selina left the room, going to clean the blood off of her suit and change. Kitrina sat down next to him, and they spent a few long, awkward minutes in silence.

"You alright?" she asked, breaking the ice.

"Yeah. Just starting to scab over."

"I meant _you_."

"That, I'm not so sure about."

"Me either."

"You've been through a lot. I haven't exactly helped."

"It's alright. I know I haven't been good to you either. I've been thinking about what you said the other day, and I think I understand now."

"Understand what?"

"Why you did what you did. For a long while, I thought you'd said my name because you wanted me to die instead of Raven. I would've been fine if it had been something like a relationship, but that was _life or death_, and it hurt a hell of a lot more hearing you say my name. I'm not going to try and get back together with you, Simon. I don't know how you feel about anything, and I don't know if I'm ready to even try right now. I know this sounds cliche, but... can we still be friends?" He smiled, scabs cracking as he did.

"Yeah. Glad we're past that." Selina came out of her room on cue, back in her normal clothes, throwing a bag over her shoulder.

"Looks like I'll be staying here a little longer than I thought, so I'm gonna run home and grab some stuff. Be back soon." She walked out of the door, leaving Kitrina and Simon alone.

"I'm gonna go get this armor off." He stood up, groaning as his broken ribs complained.

_Didn't feel that before. Must've been adrenaline. _He walked into his room, and popped the chestplate out of place. As he tried to lift it off over his head, he realized that he wasn't going to be able to get it over his face without hurting himself.

"Kitrina?" he half-yelled, hoping she could help get it off of him more gently. She peeked around the corner, not coming into full view. "Can't get this off without hurting myself. Help?" She obliged and came over, helping guide it over his head and away from his mouth. They stopped for a moment, faces inches away from each other, but he pulled back.

"I'm not trying to do anything with you, I can't," he said, sitting down on his bed.

"You're right. I just said I wasn't going to do this."

"Yeah, that."

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

"What's your reason? Don't lie to me. I can take it."

"I'm with Selina. That's why I can't."

"I had figured you two had something going on, but I didn't expect it to be serious."

"It is. We just get along really well."

"We did, too."

"You said you weren't going to do this."

"I know I did. Sometimes you're wrong." She kissed him, half forcing herself onto him. He leaned back and pushed her off, trying to remove himself from the situation.

"Kitrina, I can't. I want to try to do this _right_ with Selina. Not like I did with you and Rae, where it was a jumbled mess of confusion and indecisiveness." She stopped and looked at him, realizing that he really meant it.

"Alright. Alright. Look, can I just get one quick kiss? For old time's sake?"

"That sounds like a way to blackmail me."

"Swear I won't. I just... I miss you sometimes. At least promise me if it doesn't work with Selina, we can try again?"

"As long as "it not working" doesn't involve you wrecking our relationship somehow."

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"I don't trust many people anymore."

"I'm not going to try to kill your relationship. I'm glad you're happy right now."

"One kiss. That's it. And if it doesn't work out, then we can try again. I was happy when I was with you, too." She leaned forward into an awkward kiss, and he broke it off quickly. She smiled, glad for the development.

"Thanks. I'm gonna go take a nap. Remember, stay awake." She left him alone, and he changed into a t-shirt and jeans, getting finished just as Selina walked back into the apartment. He left his room and greeted her with a kiss, surprising her.

"What was that about?"

"Just happy to see you, is all."

"Like I said, stick to what you normally do. Complimenting people doesn't suit you." She laid her bags down and flopped down on the couch, the visual embodiment of tired. Weaver followed suit and curled up next to her, and they both passed out then and there.


End file.
